In The Aftermath
by Lizzie9
Summary: In the end, it all comes down to seconds. The line between love and loss, safety and danger, life and death, nothing but seconds. Meredith caught in crossfire when hospital is under seige. MD.
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two school girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman who's fiance is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obbsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review.

10:58:32 PST

"He's getting worse Charles!" Rachel Finley yelled at her brother. "I don't think he's breathing right."

"I know this Rach." He shouted back. "And what the hell are we supposed to do? We don't have insurance. We don't have any money. The hospital won't treat him."

"We're supposed to be getting married, Charles. I'm supposed to marry him." She was on the brink of tears. She pushed her red hair out of her eyes. "He can not die. We're getting married."

" The hospital isn't going to treat him because you're gonna get hitched." Charles said gentler this time.

Her green eyes narrowed into slits. "You know what? Fuck the hospital. Get him ready."

"To go where?"

"Just do it Charles. I'll explain in the car."

* * *

11:31:30 PST

Meredith Grey shuffled into the emergency entrance lobby, rubbing her eyes. 11:30. Way too late when you've been at Seattle Gracee since six am. No, way to late when you've been with Addison Shepherd since six am.

"If I ever wanted to be obgyn, which I didn't, I sure as hell don't now." She muttered to herself.

"That's a sign of schizophrenia." Came a smooth voice from across the hall.

She smiled at him, and her face burned at the butterflies she felt in her stomach. Still felt in her stomach. Even after he hadn't picked her.

"I'll take that under consideration."

"Long day?"

"The longest."

"In the pit?"

"The pit of crying children and bitching-" she stopped short, catching herself. She looked at Derek, hoping hse hadn't crossed the line. His eyebrows raised and he snorted. A snort that turned into a laugh that they shared.

When Derek could breathe again, and Meredith had gotten around to wiping the tears from her eyes, they noticed Addison, standing across the hall from them, arms crossed.

Their next laughing fit didn't improve her mood. "Derek, can we go?"

"Addison, we're talking. Come over here." He said, still choking back laughter.

"Derek, let's leave." She said slowly, as if she were addressing a three year old. He held up a hand to Meredith and dutifully followed his wife.

* * *

11:33:00 PST

Rachel wheeled her fiance through the ER doors, and reached into her large tote bag. She came towards Meredith.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Doctor Grey." Meredith said indignantly.

Rachel pulled out her gun. "Doctor, you and I are going to spend some time together."

It was thirty seconds after Derek left the ER.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two school girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. We're back from various vacations and are planning to update with fervor. So review. Chapters will get longer, that's a promise.

The security guard manning the cameras called the chief as soon as he saw the girl come in with the gun. He knew that Dr. Shepherd, his wife and an intern were in the danger zone. The chief took one look at the camera and kicked himself for not stationing more security around the lesser used entrances. "Send someone down there. Now."

Shit. Meredith thought. Shit. This was an all around bad situation. Whoever this woman was, she had pushed Meredith into an OR, holding her at gunpoint. Somehow, there was no security down here, and when Derek had left; it was pretty much deserted, aside from a few nurses who were gossiping in a staff room down the hall.

So here she was, in an operating room with some crazy chick, an obviously sick man, and a large gun.

"I'm Rachel. This is what is going to happen. My fiancée is sick. And your hospital won't treat him, because of insurance." She pointed the gun right at Meredith's face. "But I guess you don't really have a choice, do you?"

* * *

Derek's knuckles tightened around the chair in front of him as he watched the footage from the security cameras. Chief Webber, Addison, Burke and Christina were in the room with him, watching the screen.

"Dr. Shepherd, you and Addison are lucky you got out when you did." Said Mike Carlington, head of security. "Thirty seconds after you exited the wing, Dr. Grey was taken hostage. Very lucky."

"Thirty seconds?" Addison repeated, incredulous. A lower level officer paused another running tape.

"Twenty eight point six, to be exact." He said. Derek just closed his eyes.

* * *

Meredith shook her head, her panic approaching frantic. "No. No, you don't want me. I'm an intern. I don't do things like this by myself. I'm not scrubbed in for surgery. I don't have any medical supplies. One person can't do a surgery. I don't even know what he has." She blurted out quickly.

Rachel's eyes narrowed. Then she smiled. "That's ok. Because you don't need to perform surgery. All you need is to have someone bring you medicine. But act fast. He's in the end of the treatable stage."

For the first time, Meredith noticed that Rachel was wearing a mask over her nose and mouth. Her own eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What does he have?"

Rachel shrugged nonchalantly and tossed Meredith a mask. "SARS." She said, before she cocked the gun and aimed it at Meredith's head. "Put your mask on. It's contagious. Start planning, Dr. Grey. His condition has been getting worse for ten days. You have six hours to administer the best treatment you can. Or I'll kill you."

In the office, two floors, a wing and a world away, Derek threw the chair that he was gripping to the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. We're back from various vacations and are planning to update with fervor. So review. Chapters will get longer, that's a promise.

Meredith numbly hooked him up to a breathing tube, vitals monitor, and did everything else she could think to do, just to seem busy while she considered her options. Finally she turned to Rachel.

"Okay, it's my turn to talk now," she said bossily. "You might have the gun, but I have the medical skills, and without me, you're barricaded in an OR with no doctor. So we're going to have to get some things straight. I have spent the entire day with screaming babies, and a screaming ob-gyn. This is not what I had in mind for the rest of my shift."

She looked at Rachel, who looked like she thought Meredith was the one who needed medical attention. Meredith saw the fear in the girl's eyes, and her voice softened. "Look, I'll treat him, okay? I really don't have a choice. But I'm going to need some help."

Rachel eyed her suspiciously, the gun still in her hands. Meredith kept talking. "I don't mean I need help in here. I just don't know the best way to treat him. And I don't have the proper supplies. I need to make a phone call, and have someone bring me stuff. Is that okay?" she asked, taking her cell phone out of her pocket.

Rachel nodded. Meredith flipped open her phone, and hit the previously dialed button twice. She wasn't sure who the last person she called was, and almost died of relief when Izzie picked up. "Meredith?"

"Iz, thank God."

"Meredith, where are you? You're supposed to be doing post-op notes for Addison. She's gonna go ballistic."

"Izzie, do something for me. Go find Chief Webber, or Bailey or someone, and put them on the phone."

Izzie had no idea what was going on, but she heard panic in Meredith's voice, so she acted quickly. She saw Burke and Bailey striding somewhere quickly, and trusting her instincts, she simply followed them, ending up in the security office.

She opened the door right after they did, causing everyone's heads to snap around. "Stevens, you have patients." Bailey said.

"I've got Meredith on the phone."

She handed Dr. Webber the phone wordlessly. "Meredith?"

"Chief, he's got SARS."

"We know. We're watching it all on camera. You're doing great Meredith."

"What do I do?"

"Chest x-ray. I'd like to do a CT, but it's not plausible. I'll send someone down with meds to start treating the SARS and the symptoms."

"Why the chest x-ray?" she asked as if they were discussing a normal patient.

"SARS can cause lung damage. It's pertinent we check for that. Especially if it's a fast acting strain."

Derek heard Dr. Webber's side of the conversation, and his breathing started to return to normal. He released his grip on the chair in front of him, and relaxed his tense shoulders. She could do this. Meredith would just treat this guy, and then it would be fine.

He tuned back into what the chief was saying. "I'm sending someone with medication, as well as a first stage antibiotic for you. I'll get you some masks. Change them every twenty minutes without fail. I want to keep an open line of communication, so I'm going to patch through to the land line in your OR."

The chief was silent for a few seconds, and he turned to look at the rest of the room. "Yes," he said, turning away again, and lowering his voice. "Derek got out. He's fine."

Not low enough. Addison's lips set in a tight line, and Derek crumbled a little bit. Was he okay? He just left her there to get into this mess, and she wanted to know if he was okay.

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Meredith got off the phone, feeling reassured by the Chief's calm, direct attitude. She could do this. She could just treat the patient, and then everything would be fine, and she could go back to being miserable about Derek.

She took the landline phone off the wall, as per her instruction, and waited for security to put her on an open connection to the chief. She wheeled an x-ray machine over the table, and started to set it up, as best she could.

"I'm going to do a chest x-ray." She told Rachel. "To make sure his lungs haven't been damaged. And in the mean time, someone will bring down the medication we need."

Rachel nodded, but she felt very uneasy. It might be time to act out her back up plan.

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Richard Webber hung up the phone, his calm façade fading instantly. "Ok, people. I need someone to get everything we've got to treat and prevent SARS down there stat."

He looked at Mike Carlington, but was really addressing everyone. "We need a way to get her out of there as fast as we can. I don't like the idea of trusting this person. We have no way to guarantee Meredith's safety after the treatment. We need ideas, a strategy and an execution."

Security chief Carlington picked up the phone. "I'm calling the Seattle police."

Dr. Webber walked out into the hall, letting the security team talk to the police. He needed to think, needed to plan. He was prepared for any sort of medical disaster, but not for this.

Derek slipped outside the security office after him. "Richard," he asked, "She's going to need those masks. Do you think that I maybe could…?" He trailed off.

Dr. Webber nodded. "Prepare a cart. Take it to her. But Derek, you're in and then you're out. No show stopping numbers. Nothing heroic. The best thing you can do for her is be here to help."

Derek nodded, and hurried off in the opposite direction. Richard walked back into the office. "Seattle PD is on their way."

He nodded. Carlington continued. "In the meantime, we'll monitor the situation closely, and position our security as close to that OR as we can without tipping them off."

Addison looked around the room. "Where's Derek?"

When no one answered her, she knew. And it was only a matter of minutes before he could be seen on the camera.

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There was a knock at the door, and Rachel's head snapped in the direction the sound came from. So did Meredith's.

"I can't tell who that is, but there's a cart of supplies. Let them in."

Rachel shook her head.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "You either let me out to get the cart, or you let them in to give it to me. Take your pick."

Keeping the gun trained on Meredith, Rachel opened the door. Meredith's head spun a little when she saw it was. "Derek." She breathed.

He handed her a fresh, super resistant surgical mask before he said anything. She changed them quickly, discarding her old one in a trash can. He reached for her hand and squeezed it.

"You're okay?"

"I'm fine. Scared, but fine."

"Mer, I'm so sorry."

She smiled, and he put his other hand over hers, as if he could protect her by clutching her right hand. "It's not your fault Derek. I'm going to be fine."

He kissed her forehead, and then without thinking, kissed her lips. "Promise me that." He whispered.

"What?"

"Promise me you'll walk out of here just fine."

She looked at him, bewildered and against her better judgment, love struck. "I promise." She said softly. He squeezed her hands one last time and then left, reminding her to keep the phone connected, and her cell phone available.

Rachel sat in the corner with raised eyebrows, intrigued. There was obviously something between them, and she was sure she could figure out how to use that to her advantage.

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"Holy awkward." Izzie whispered to Christina. The two interns were huddled in a corner of the security office, watching Derek walk away from the OR where Meredith was. Everyone had just seen him kiss her, and they had just barely been able to make out what he was whispering when he asked for her word.

Now, as they stood in the office, Christina, Izzie, Burke, Bailey, chief Webber, and the security team, they were no longer watching the camera screens. Now, no one could stop watching Addison.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin.

Addison had felt this way several times before. It was the way you feel when something has just happened to you and you know everyone's watching you to gauge your reaction. She could feel her shoulders tensing and her mouth setting in a thin line.

She resisted the urge to sigh. She didn't want all the interns to hate her. She didn't want Derek to hate her. She didn't even want Meredith to hate her. They didn't understand that he was her husband, and that she couldn't just let him go without some sort of fight for him.

She turned around and smiled tensely at everyone in the room, and without a word walked out, heels clacking. She met Derek coming off the elevator.

"What the hell was that?"

He raised his eyebrows listlessly at her, but nothing.

"Jesus, Derek, you can at least pretend that you care." She hissed. "You just kissed her."

"I'm sorry." He said; his voice hollow.

"Don't patronize me."

"What else do you want me to say? I didn't mean it? I'd take it back?"

"A little melodramatic, but it would help."

He shrugged, looking guilty. "I'm sorry." He repeated, walking off, leaving Addison staring at his retreating back.

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Meredith put the land line on hold, so the connection wouldn't break, and replaced it in its cradle. "That was Dr. Bailey. She's going to come down to get the x-ray machine and develop the photos of the lungs."

Rachel didn't respond, so Meredith busied herself by hooking the fiancé, who she had learned was named Josh, up to an IV to start treatment for the symptoms. Dr. Webber had instructed her to treat the symptoms, and then the actual virus to prevent him from crashing, and Meredith wasn't planning on taking any chances.

She willed herself to focus on the potential life and death situation at hand, not Derek's lips on hers. Rachel spoke up.

"So that guy? Who brought the stuff?"

"What about him?"

Rachel laughed. "Oh, you can't be serious. Him coming in here with his hands and lips and making you promise to stay safe. He's either your dad or your boyfriend."

Meredith smiled a little, despite the situation at hand. "Neither actually. I think he used to be my boyfriend, but he's married now. Or was always married. The point is all of a sudden, there was a wife."

"And you still love him." Rachel said, in a matter of fact way that Meredith found disarming.

"Why would you say that?"

"If not because of the way you went all googly eyed when he came in here, it's because you promised him exactly what he wanted, even though you have no way of making that promise come true."

Meredith didn't say anything. "I'm right aren't I?" prompted Rachel.

She nodded. "Yea, I guess you are. I love him."

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In the security office, Miranda Bailey was the first to break the silence. "Am I ever glad to be getting out of here." She said, meeting her security escort who was walking her down to get the x-ray machine from Meredith.

Christina exchanged a look with Burke, but Izzie and Chief Webber were both focused on Derek, who looked like he was going to smile for the first time in a long time. His eyes were fixed on the small image of Meredith on the screen, and he seemed like he was still trying to convince himself that he wasn't hallucinating.

To Derek, he felt like the world had righted itself on its axis. Every bit of hope he so desperately needed was wrapped up in brightly colored paper and bundled at his feet. She still loved him. His arguments with Addison were miles away. Even the fact that Meredith was in danger had momentarily escaped him.

She still loved him. They were still in love.

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Outside Seattle Grace, a figure leaned against the building, smoking a cigarette. He inhaled and blew out smoke as rapidly as he could. He wanted to finish this pack before he ended up playing the pawn in Rachel's new game.

He had agreed to help his sister out with this ridiculous, incredulous plan, because he didn't want to lose Josh, his best friend, or his sister. They seemed to be a package deal, and as much as Charles didn't want to admit it, things might just work out for them. If Josh didn't die, and would wait for Rachel until she got out of jail that was.

Charles lit another cigarette and waited to get the phone call that could destroy his life.

Meredith was, for once, relieved to see Bailey. Rachel let her in without question, and Bailey practically threw the packet of x-rays at Meredith.

"Playing with fire, Grey. You're playing with fire."

Meredith eyed her incredulously. "That's what you're going to lecture me about? Derek? I'm trapped in this room, with a disease and a gun, and all you can talk about is Derek?"

"Addison saw that little reunion you guys had."

Meredith closed eyes and placed two fingers on the bridge of her nose. "Okay, Dr. Bailey, I appreciate your concern, but I really can't afford to focus on the current bump in the road of the Shepherd nuptials. Even if that bump is me."

Bailey's expression softened. "He's worried about you, Grey. We all are. Keep your cool, do the job, and stay safe, all right?"

Meredith smiled and nodded. "All right. Thanks."

Bailey seemed to snap back into her old self. "Grey. X-rays. Don't slack off. You might make me look bad."

Meredith shook her head, as usual, torn between annoyance and amusement at her resident, and then opened the packet of x-rays. Her hand moved instinctively to her cell phone as she looked at them.

She dialed the familiar number, out of habit, or maybe out of something more, some ray of hope that she chose to ignore.

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"Meredith." He said, worry evident in his voice. "What is it?"

"Derek?" she asked. "His lung, it's um, it's strained or something. Not punctured or torn, but thin. It's hindering his breathing, and I have to repair it."

Derek took a deep breath. "Okay, lungs, I'm not so good with, but I'll put Burke on, okay? And Meredith, I heard…"

He trailed off, not sure how to broach this, and even more sure that wasn't the right time. "Never mind. Just be careful, Mer."

She promised again that she would, and quickly repeated the problem to Burke who promised that he was on his way with everything she needed.

She turned around to tell Rachel what was going on, and realized she was staring down the barrel of a gun.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. We took some liberties as far as medical procedures and electrical configuration. Pretend it's possible. Please review. It's our heroin.

"You better not be playing me, Grey."

Meredith swallowed. As far as she knew, she wasn't, but you can't exactly be a smart ass to someone who's got a gun point blank between your eyes.

"Rachel, listen to me. Nothing is going on that you don't know about. At least, I'm about to tell you everything you don't know right now." She grabbed for an x-ray.

"The SARS isn't as bad as this. The reason he's on the ventilator is because his lung is strained from the virus. I'm treating the SARS now, but I'll need to repair the lung."

"How will you do that?"

"Fortunately, not with open surgery. I'll stick a device down, with a camera, that will attach enzymes and proteins and repair the strain."

"And someone has to bring them?"

"I advise you to let someone else in to do the procedure. I've never repaired a lung before."

"Let someone else come in here? Why don't you invite some cops too?"

"Rachel, think about Josh."

She shook her head adamantly. "No. Just you."

Meredith shrugged, trying for a casual intimidation. "His funeral." The next thing she felt was something hard connecting with her temple. Rachel's gun. The combination of force and surprise knocked her to the ground.

She sat for a minute with her head in her hands.

Inside the security office, watching on camera, Derek exploded. "Damn it, Richard!" he shouted, slamming his fist into the wall. Addison jumped next to him, shocked to hear intensity in his voice that had been hollow for months.

"We need to do something! Now!"

"Derek, get a hold of yourself." Richard muttered.

"Get a hold of the situation." Derek shot back. "It's escalating. We need to get Meredith out."

Dr. Webber placed a comforting hand on Derek's shoulder. "We're working on it, Derek. I promise. But you know that if we just rush in there, Meredith's life would be in danger."

Derek nodded, but Addison couldn't help but notice that his hands that were clenched into fists were shaking.

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Burke put the mask over his face, and knocked on the door. Meredith was sitting on the floor, so the woman with the gun opened the door. She trained the gun on Burke and waved him in.

Meredith staggered to her feet, wincing as she stood to her full height. Burke rushed to her side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She touched her temple. "I'm going to have one hell of a bruise, but I'll be just fine."

Burke smiled reassuringly at her. "You will be fine. Cristina asked me to tell you that she'll buy you a drink when ever you can breathe fresh oxygen again. She also asked me to tell you that McDreamy is," he made air quotes with his fingers, "Freaking out."

Meredith smiled. "I'm sure Addison is too."

Burke raised his eyebrows at her. "Let me take a look at the x-rays." He asked.

Meredith wordlessly handed them over. He leafed through them. "I thought this might be the case." He muttered to himself. He looked up at Meredith and smiled at the on her face. "You're lucky I brought the equipment. It's not a strain. His lung has partially collapsed from the strain. All you need to do is re-inflate it. And then start him on proteins to strengthen the organ."

He looked particularly pleased with himself. Meredith was relieved. Inflating a lung was a lot easier than repairing a strain. She felt herself relax a little bit. She felt herself start thinking about Derek kissing her.

"Not the time to head to dream land, Grey." Burke said, looking warily on the gun that was still pointed at them. Meredith nodded. "See you soon." Burke said firmly.

Meredith watched him go, seeing now, for the first time, why he and Cristina worked together. Feeling reassured, she began prepping Josh, best she could, for lung inflation.

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Richard Webber paced back and forth in the security office. Bailey had sent Izzie and Cristina for coffee, realizing that they weren't going anywhere for long. But they did need a few minutes alone. Derek and Addison were still in the office, and Burke had just returned.

The security staff was present and alert, all the way muttering into walkie talkies and monitoring computers.

"Mike, what do you propose we do?"

"Seattle PD is on their way, chief."

"And then what?"

"We're not sure, yet. I'll bring the commanding officer in as soon as he arrives to discuss our options. It's likely that if we were to surround the room, the captor would not shoot Dr. Grey, because she'd have no where to go."

Derek winced visibly at the business like way he talked about a bullet sailing into Meredith, but only Addison noticed.

"But we can't take that chance." Richard finished.

"Exactly." Carlington confirmed.

"We've got company." Bailey muttered under her breath.

"What?" Carlington asked.

Bailey shook her head. "Yang and Stevens, with Karev and O'Malley in tow."

"Who are they?"

"More interns."

Security Chief Carlington shook his head. "There's something to be said for loyalty."

The four interns walked into the room, daring someone older to ask them to leave. No one said a word. Spared this confrontation, they lapsed into an obvious worried silence, and stared at the screen.

No one said anything for a long time, until Derek cleared his throat.

"Derek, please don't." Addison whispered.

"So exactly what are we doing, here?" Derek asked, ignoring his wife, who closed her eyes slowly. "We're waiting for the police? That's the plan to save her life?"

"Dr. Shepherd, I'm doing everything I can. I just don't know what else to do." Carlington said, his voice laden with understanding.

"It's not enough." Derek muttered.

"What?" Dr. Webber asked.

"It's not enough!" Derek shouted. "She's still locked in a room with a gun and we can stand around up here and watch her get beat up, but we can't do anything to help her!"

George was still confused, having only gotten a rough, sketchy version of what had been happening from Izzie and Cristina on the frantic hurry to the office, but he was already piecing it together.

He was just betting himself ten bucks that the room would lapse into another painfully awkward silence when Bailey spoke up.

"He's right."

Everyone turned to stare at her. She shrugged. "For one thing, you people seem to be ignoring the fact that she's in a closed off, contained OR with a guy dying of SARS. You don't think she might get it?"

"Second of all," she continued, "Grey is one of our own. Her friends have proved that. She's someone we need to ensure the safety of, not sit up here staring at screens."

Derek had never felt so grateful to anyone.

Before anyone could say anything else, and uniformed police officer knocked on the door.

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Meredith was almost finished with the procedure. Which hopefully meant she could get out of here soon. Very soon. She removed the inflation device from the breathing tube, and took out the first IV. She started two more, one for the lungs and one to eradicate the SARS virus.

She was so busy finishing it, she didn't notice Rachel pulling out her cell phone and whispering into it.

Rachel hadn't meant to advance to this stage, but the unmarked police car outside left her no choice. When she saw squad cars pulling around the back of the hospital with their lights turned off, she called her brother.

"Charles." She whispered into the phone, "I need you to cut power. Can you do that?"

He rolled his eyes. He may be poor, but before they'd blown the cash, MIT had recognized him as a genius. "Of course I can do that."

"Keep the back up power running in this room only." She instructed.

Meredith didn't realize Rachel even had the conversation until everything went dark.

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Derek was half listening to the police talk to Chief Webber and Carlington, but mostly he was clenching his fists so hard that his nails were digging into his palms. Mostly he was just feeling an odd combination of anger, worry, and infuriating helplessness.

When the power went out, he knew it wasn't an accident. And all of a sudden, his perfectly honed surgical skills were gone. He was no longer in control of his body, his emotions, or his actions.

Fueled by something he could only describe as primal, he slipped out the door, and at a full out sprint ran in the direction he'd come from hours ago.

Mike Carlington turned on a flash light two minutes after Derek left the office. "The back up generators were cut. This was intentional."

"How the hell did someone cut power to this entire hospital?" Dr. Webber demanded.

No one said anything, until Izzie's voice cut through the silence. "Dr. Shepherd?" she asked, looking right at Addison.

"What?"

"Where's Derek?"

Addison looked around the room twice, expecting to find him destroying things in a corner, when the cold realization hit her.

"He went for Meredith." She whispered.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. If you like this story, our newest, post Season 2 finale, "Keeping The Faith" plays along these lines, except we made poor Meredith get abducted in that one. Check it out? REVIEW, please?

There was silence in the security office as the implications of what Addison said set in. She herself felt it, more than ever now. It wasn't just an inkling she had. It was no longer irrelevant jealousy. It was tangible now. Real, and right in front of her face. And now she had two burdens to shoulder. He could die. And he still didn't love her anyway.

"He went after her?" she repeated. "What the hell is he thinking?"

She realized there was no sympathy coming from any of the interns, and was actually grateful when the uncomfortable silence was pierced by a nurse flinging the door open.

"Chief Webber!" she cried, panicked. "We've got patients crashing!"

He nodded. "I've got crews regenerating minimal power to each individual grid. It won't be enough for light, but it should get the machines working again. Until then, have everyone do whatever they can." She nodded, and disappeared into the blackness.

Dr. Webber steeled his resolve and turned back to face the doctors in the office. "Preston and Miranda, I need you two out there. Do anything and everything you can do."

They nodded and followed suit of the nurse, Burke squeezing Cristina's hand before he left.

"What about us?" Alex asked. The chief looked at the remaining five.

"I can only ask that you all stay here, and pray. I'll let you know the second I know anything." With those words, and an almost mythical sense of calm and power, he too, was gone.

Addison looked at the faces staring back at her. One was ice cold, steely. Two were anxious and one was soft. Izzie attempted a small, sympathetic smile in Addison's direction, and she tried to return it but could only sink into a chair and drop her head into her hands.

Izzie looked tentatively at her friends, who merely shrugged as she sat down next to Addison. "Are you okay?" she whispered.

Addison shrugged. "He could be fine."

"She could be fine too." Izzie said in a tone that was obviously to convince even her that she was serious.

"It's just..." Addison started, and then realized who she was talking to. She shook her head, brief moment of vulnerability gone.

"He loves her." Addison's eyebrows hit her forehead. "What?" Cristina demanded belligerently. "We're all thinking it, I might as well just say it. He went after her. He loves her."

* * *

"What the hell?" Meredith said out loud. She shook her head. "This can't be good." She looked up into a beam of light, coming from a flashlight Rachel had produced from her bag. Meredith's eyes narrowed.

"Rachel, what's going on?"

"It's none of your concern." She said quickly. She looked around. "Get him ready to go."

"Who was on the phone? You know this a hospital? A hospital that needs power?"

"Shut up. And get him ready to go."

Meredith raised her eyebrows. "I can put him in a chair, but the IV's need to stay attached until they're all in his system." She thrust a paper bag that Bailey had brought in Rachel's direction. "Here. Instructions are included. Make sure he takes everything. If he does, he should be fine."

Rachel's hard expression softened. "Thank you Dr. Grey." She whispered. Meredith almost smiled at the irony of it. If this girl, who didn't look much older than she was, hadn't held her at gunpoint for the last few hours, they probably could have been friends.

Meredith couldn't even hold it against her. She would do the same thing if it were Derek.

* * *

Derek headed for the hallway he had left Meredith in hours ago. It was eerie to see the hospital this dark, this desolate. Derek could barely see his own hand in front of him as he felt his way through the hallway.

He wasn't afraid; he wasn't concerned for anyone except Meredith. Getting to her was the one unifying idea that was keeping all of his cells in line. He just kept moving closer to that OR.

* * *

Meredith was almost secure enough to feel confident. Josh was awake, he was in a wheelchair, and he was talking to Rachel. His vitals were stable, his IV was still going. She had saved him. She almost smiled.

Maybe she was going to walk out of here just fine. The only thing making her uneasy was the problem that her landline connection was broken, and the cameras were down. She was alone, save for her cell phone. She really wished that she could just close her eyes and go back to ob-gyn with Addison.

Narrowed eyes of her ex boyfriend's wife and screaming babies seemed like paradise compared to this. No, she wished that she was sitting outside with a cup of coffee, and that Derek had still kissed her anyway, even though she wasn't in a life or death situation.

And on top of all that, she really hoped that she didn't get SARS.

These musing were interrupted by someone dropping out of the ceiling. Meredith jumped, but Rachel merely rolled her eyes. "Meredith," she said, like they were old friends, meet my brother, Charles. Tech genius who cut the power to your hospital."

Oh. It was all becoming very clear to her now, and she was starting to get angry. "You cut it all?" she demanded.

He grinned. "I'm good at what I do, babe."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't call me babe." She said in a stony voice. "And do you realize that there are people on life support in this hospital? There were people getting surgeries in this hospital? If any of them die which is likely, it's blood on your hands, Charles." She said, spitting out his name.

He shrugged. "Chill out, babe."

She was about to retort when the door swung open, and Rachel's makeshift barricade collapsed inside the room.

"Who the hell is that?" Rachel asked. Meredith couldn't see her well, but she could just make out the gun swinging towards the door.

"Meredith?" came a familiar voice.

"Derek." She breathed, relief washing over her.

Rachel laughed. "Oh Jesus, this is beautiful."

Meredith shook her head. "Rachel, I saved him. He's fine. Let us go." Derek used the sound of her voice to edge toward her until he could see the outline of her body. He felt for her hand and gripped it in his. She squeezed it tightly.

"Not so fast." Rachel said, nonchalantly, as if nothing were at stake. "There's still the small matter of the three of us getting the hell out of here, unscathed and not in handcuffs."

"There's a door a few yards away, Rachel. You should know that."

"And I'm sure you know that this place is swarming with cops." She said. "No. The only way we'll get out is if we have something, or someone they can't shoot."

Derek tensed. He pulled Meredith's body slightly behind his, without letting go of her hand.

"Come for a walk with me babe." Charles said, leering at Meredith.

Derek fought the impulse to knock his teeth in. Meredith placed her other hand on his arm, and he focused. "Look, just leave." He prompted Rachel. "We'll distract them, we'll do something." He stopped talking and shook his head. "No." He said, "Let me make a call."

He pulled Meredith over to the corner with him. He leaned in close. "I'm going to pick up the phone. You're going to run like hell."

She shook her head. "I'm not leaving you here."

"Meredith, don't argue with me. I left you down here once, I won't do it again."

She opened her mouth to argue, but he kissed her to cut her off. A passionate, heart stopping, breath taking kiss that left her dizzy. "Besides," he whispered, "You promised me you'd be okay."

He pulled out his phone and nodded to her. She did what he told her to. She ran, and she made it out of the door. But something stopped her. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe she couldn't leave him, but for whatever reason, she turned back.

She turned back in time to hear the distinct sound of a fist connecting with a face. "Derek!" she yelled.

* * *

Cristina was fiddling with everything she picked up. She just picked up things, fiddled with them and then put them down. George paced. He just walked back and forth across the room. Izzie and Alex sat together, occasionally whispering. Addison heel tapped. She tapped the thin heels of her black Pradas ceaselessly against the floor.

"We should know something by now, shouldn't we?" George asked, breaking the silence. Alex and Izzie stopped whispering, Cristina stopped fiddling, and Addison stopped tapping.

"We should." Alex agreed. "But maybe nothing's happened to know about."

Izzie nodded. "We can, um, talk you know, right?" she asked hesitantly. "Before we all drive each other crazy?"

Addison smiled humorlessly. "Yes, Dr. Stevens. What do we have in common to talk about? How we all got to watch my husband kiss your friend? Oh, no, let's skip right to the part where he went out into the dark hospital after the lunatic with the SARS ridden fiancé and the gun to save your friend?"

Izzie smiled tightly, and they lapsed back into silence.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin.

Meredith ran back into the room she had just come from. She burst though the door to see Rachel's gun in her face. "Don't move." Rachel instructed her finger on the trigger.

Meredith could hear the sounds of someone getting beat up, and she knew Derek wasn't the one throwing punches or well placed kicks to the stomach. "Let him leave." Meredith pleaded with Rachel, wincing as she heard Derek groan.

"Please Rachel," she begged. "I saved Josh. Let Derek leave." The sounds of Charles hitting Derek echoed in her ears. All of a sudden, dim lights flickered on and mercifully, the red light came on the camera. Even in the poorly lit room, she could see Derek was bleeding badly.

"You want him out?" Rachel asked. "Fine. Derek, you're free to go. Meredith will stay here with us."

Derek rose weakly to his full height and shook his head.

* * *

In the security office, the four remaining interns and the remaining Shepherd watched as the TV flickered to life, casting an eerie glow over the room. They watched in horror as Rachel tuned and hit Derek in the head with the gun.

Addison's eyes grew large as he hit the floor. "Get up, and go." Rachel instructed.

"Derek, just get out." Addison whispered to herself.

Derek staggered to his feet and headed towards the door, but stopped when he reached Meredith. He grabbed her hands and stood next to her. She turned to him with a few tears slipping down her face. "Please go." She said.

Derek coughed. "I am not leaving you here." He said. "They'll kill you."

She shook her head. "I'll be fine, Derek. You're hurt." She pleaded desperation evident in her voice. "Please just go."

He shook his head. "I can't." he touched her face. "I can't leave you."

Rachel shrugged. "That's sweet." She mocked, "But it's your funeral."

She nodded to Charles. "The chick is all yours bro." she said mockingly.

Derek stood in front of Meredith, shielding her. Rachel pointed the gun at him. "I advise you to move." She said. Meredith stepped in front of Derek, but it didn't stop Charles from delivering him a final blow to the face.

Derek landed on the ground, unconscious. Meredith backed away from Charles until she was against the wall. Charles lunged for her, grabbed her shoulders and kissed her.

Meredith wrenched out of his grasp. Charles just ginned. "Come on babe," he coaxed. "I won't tell your boyfriend." He said gesturing toward Derek. Meredith's palm connected with his cheek.

"Don't touch me." She said, leaning down next to Derek.

* * *

In the security office, they sat in stunned, horrified silence. Suddenly, the chief reappeared, along with Mike Carlington and two Seattle police officers. It was George who stood and said "Do something. Now."

* * *

Meredith felt relief wash over her as Derek's eyes fluttered open. "Are you okay?" she whispered. He nodded weakly. She helped him sit up, his body leaning on the wall for support.

"That was stupid, Derek." She whispered.

He held her hand to his cheek. "And if I would have left you here?"

She didn't answer, but instead felt Rachel's gun in the back of her head. "Get up." Rachel said. "We're leaving now."

Meredith got up and walked toward the door. "I'm sorry." She whispered to Derek. Charles pushed Josh out the door in his wheelchair, as the four interns, Addison, Chief Webber, Mike Carlington and two police officers appeared at the end of the lobby.

"Don't move." Rachel said. She cocked the gun and pointed it at Meredith's temple. Meredith closed her eyes and smiled weakly at her friends. The police had guns trained on Rachel, but there were only two of them, and Meredith was in front of Rachel.

Rachel was slowly backing Meredith towards the door. Suddenly she stopped walking. Addison gasped as Derek limped slowly out of the OR and put himself between Meredith and the door.

Rachel whirled around, yanking Meredith with her. She laughed. "Lover boy." She said in a patronizing voice. "You need to stop coming to the rescue."

Derek stood in front of the automatic door. "You're not leaving here with her." He said. "Leave with me. Leave with anything or anyone else here. Just don't hurt her."

Meredith struggled against Rachel's grip on her arm. "Derek, don't do this." She pleaded again. "Please."

"I'm not letting anything happen to you." He said forcefully.

Rachel looked between the two of them. "Jesus, Meredith. He loves you so much he's willing to die for you. That's sweet. But I'm leaving. And I've gotten attached to Meredith. And so has my brother."

She pointed the gun at Derek. "Move." He shook his head. Rachel shrugged nonchalantly, pulled the trigger and hit Derek in the chest.

Before Meredith could react, a bullet whirled from behind her and struck Rachel in the knee. She fell to the ground, her gun landing at Meredith's feet. Time seemed to move fast and slow all at the same time. Before she knew what was happening, Charles was inside again, kicking Derek in the stomach.

As he wound his foot up again, Meredith made a choice. Derek was badly hurt before. He had lost a lot of blood. He was bleeding out fast from the chest. He was going to die. Meredith picked up the gun, closed her eyes and fired. She hit Charles in the thigh and he hit the floor.

Before she could look behind her, more police officers came streaming through the doors. Meredith ignored everything and knelt down next to Derek, whose eyes were fluttering.

He grabbed her hand. "I love you." He whispered. Meredith checked his pulse with two shaking fingers. It was weak and fading. His eyes closed.

"I need a gurney!" she yelled in a voice that sounded unlike hers. And then everything went black.

* * *

Meredith opened her eyes to find she was lying in a hospital bed. She was still in her scrubs, but when she looked down, there were IV's in her arm. For a minute, she thought the last thing she had done was spend the entire day with Addison. But when she looked down at scrubs, she saw the blood on them.

Derek's blood. It all came rushing back. He told her that he loved her, and she hadn't said it back. She pulled the IV's out of her arms and left the room. She started moving, and moving turned into running. She ran until she reached the surgical floor.

Cristina, Izzie, George and Alex were all sitting in chairs. She stopped at the sight on their somber faces. Cristina was the first to look up.

"Where is he?" Meredith asked.

"Mer, you passed out. You should be in bed." Cristina said, eyeing the vein that Meredith's IV's had been yanked out of, but chose not to say anything.

"Where is he?" she repeated, her voice louder.

Izzie gave her the sympathetic look she usually reserved for patients. "Mer…" she started.

"Where the hell is he?" Meredith yelled.

They looked at each warily. "He's in surgery." Cristina said. "Burke, and Bailey and Chief are operating, so he should be…." She trailed off.

Meredith stumbled toward them and sank down in a chair. "How bad is it?" she asked. They were all silent again. "Please," she whispered, "Just tell me."

"It's pretty bad, Mer." George said. "He has a lot of internal injuries. He lost a lot of blood. There's some damage to the uh, the heart and lungs." Meredith closed her eyes, and when she opened them, there were tears leaking down her face.

"You know he told me he loved me." She said, "Right after he got shot. And I didn't say anything. Nothing at all."

No one noticed Addison move past them, looking a little more pale and stricken.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: The Best Laid Plans

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex

Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.

Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire, and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?

Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin.

Meredith just sat there. She stared straight ahead, and didn't move.

"Mer, you really should be in bed." Cristina urged. No response.

"You're bleeding." George told her, gesturing to her arm. She looked down.

"Oh." Se said blankly, in a voice that conveyed no emotion at all. "I pulled my IV's out."

"Meredith, are you sure you're okay?" Izzie asked, reaching over and touching Meredith's arm. "Cause, you um, you don't look okay."

"And you shot someone." Alex said incredulously.

Meredith shrugged. "How long?" she asked. They stared at her. "How long has he been under?"

Izzie looked at the clock. "Pretty long." She said. "But that's good. A short surgery would be bad…" She trailed off uncomfortably. Meredith sighed.

"Charles and Rachel?"

"Both out of surgery. And handcuffed to their beds." George said. Meredith nodded, and opened her mouth like she might say something else; but instead, she just slumped over, leaned on her legs and stared straight ahead.

* * *

George, Izzie, Cristina and Alex huddled around the nearest coffee pots, close enough to make sure Meredith didn't kill herself, but far enough away so that she couldn't hear them.

"She looks…." Izzie trailed off, not able to find a word to describe her friend.

Cristina blinked. "She pulled her IV's out."

Alex looked at all of them. "Are you kidding? That's the least of it. She shot a guy."

They stopped talking, and looked at her. She was barely blinking. "She shot him." George echoed.

"She might have saved Derek's life." Cristina said.

"What if he doesn't make it?" Izzie breathed.

A cough a few feet away broke them all out of their reverie. "I have an emergency surgery." Addison said. "I need someone to assist."

They all looked at each other. Izzie, Cristina and George's eyes all slid to Meredith. Alex raised his hand. "You wait with her. I'll go."

"What if he doesn't make it?" Cristina repeated dubiously. She looked at Addison retreating. "What if he does?"

* * *

They were sitting with Meredith when Bailey appeared in front of them. "Grey." She barked. "Come with me. Now."

Meredith didn't say a word; she just got up and followed Bailey. They were striding down a hallway when Meredith grabbed her arm. "Dr. Bailey, if he's dead, just tell me."

"He's not dead, Meredith."

"Is he going to be?"

Bailey hesitated, eyeing the spot on her arm where her IV's were. "It's not great." She said. She led Meredith to a room, and let her in the door. Meredith stopped short, staring at Derek, hooked up to machines and IV's and a ventilator.

"It's a coma, isn't it?"

Bailey nodded. "The prognosis is good. We repaired everything…"

"But it won't matter if he doesn't wake up."

"He needs you to be with him." Bailey said, gesturing towards the chair next to his bed. "I'll give you as long as I can."

She left, shutting the door behind her and Meredith was left with the shell of Dr. McDreamy. She sat down next to the bed, and for the first time all day, started to cry. Really cried.

Sobbed actually. When she couldn't cry anymore, she took his hand, and held it in both of her own. "Don't think for one second that you can give up on me, Derek." She said out loud, to the gentle hum of the machines that were breathing for him.

"I love you." She said. "I love you so much. And I'm so sorry I didn't say it before. I wish you hadn't come down there, Derek. I wish you had left. But I'm glad I heard you say it."

She pressed his hand to her lips. "Because we've been through so much. And I love you. So this is nothing. It's just one more thing that we just have to get through."

She didn't know how long she sat there, after she said that, but she didn't let go of his hand. She couldn't. She just held it in both of hers, as if she pump her own vitality into him.

There was a knock on the door and the chief walked in. "Meredith." He said, coming over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "You handled yourself brilliantly today." She just sighed.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Are you okay?" he countered. "That was quite the ordeal, Meredith. I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine." She whispered.

"No you're not fine." The chief said, squeezing her shoulder. "But you will be."

"And Derek?" she asked in a small, quiet voice.

"I know Derek Shepherd very well. And he's always been a fighter. Especially when it comes to you. So, if I know anything about the power of attitude and medicine, I know that it's only a matter of time until he's coughing up the respirator."

Meredith smiled. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Rachel and Charles were officially charged this morning." Dr. Webber said. "The District Attorney was here."

"Chief, am I, um, I mean, when I…" she trailed off, suddenly exhausted.

"The shot you fired was in defense of yourself and Derek. No repercussions." She smiled weakly and said goodbye.

She laid her arm on the edge of Derek's bed, laid her head down on top of it, and still clutching his hand in his hers.

* * *

Addison pulled her mask off and slumped against the wall in the scrub room. She saved the baby. And she didn't even care. Derek was probably out of surgery right now, and really, that didn't matter either.

Meredith's voice was ringing in her ear. 'He told me he loved me.' Derek told Meredith that he loved her. It really should not have been so surprising. Addison really should have known.

The way he looked at her, the way he went after her. The way he stepped in front of a bullet for her. The way he was willing to die for her.

She pulled off her bloody gloves, and left the room. She wasn't sure how to feel, having just received confirmation that her husband was indeed still in love with his… mistress, affair, fling, and love of his life, or whatever Meredith Grey was.

And the worst part was Addison couldn't hate her, because, really, she hadn't done anything wrong. She wasn't an adulteress or the catalyst. She was just a doe eyed intern who fell in love with her married attending.

In some bizarre, masochistic way, Addison felt sorry for Meredith. Actually felt sympathy for her. She had gotten over her head fast, and then it all flew out from under her.

The red headed doctor tried to shut her brain off. She wasn't going to make any sense after this long night of hostages and gunshots.

Even though her thoughts didn't make sense, they continued racing. Derek loves Meredith. He said it. Well, that was just perfect.

Great. Now she was not only thinking nonsense, she was thinking sarcasm. Addison sighed, ducked into the nearest empty room, which happened to be a supply closet, sank down onto the floor and cried.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**And thanks for supporting us giving Addison a personality. We're not trying to make her a sympathetic character or a big bitch, we're just trying to portray how she would realistically act in this situation. **

**Also, not everything in this chapter is as it seems. Only the truly observant will get it. **

**Finally, we love you guys. **

Addison mentally pulled herself together. She wiped her eyes, stood up and fixed her hair. She opened the door to the closet, and making sure no one was coming down the hall, left the closet, setting a course for Derek's room.

By the time she got there, she had pulled herself together and calmed down. She was ready to see her husband, regardless of what state he was in. She opened the door to his room, but was not ready to see Meredith sitting next to his bed and clutching his hand like her life depended on it.

"Dr. Grey." Addison said, her tone a lot sharper than she intended. Meredith's head snapped up, and she didn't hesitate before vacating the bedside chair. She simply sank into a chair near the door.

Dr. Bailey was passing by Dr. Shepherd's room when she heard Addison's voice ring through the hallway.

"Dr. Grey, I'm sorry. But, I need you to leave."

"No." Meredith said, her voice leaning toward hysteria. "No, Addison please don't do this. Let me stay. Please, I can't just leave him, I mean he…" she swallowed and looked her in the eye. "I have to be here."

Addison's eyes flashed with anger. "No! You don't have to be here, Meredith!" she said, her voice rising. "I'm his wife, so I have to be here. You need to leave because he doesn't love you!"

Dr. Bailey couldn't take it anymore. She swung the door open. "Dr. Shepherd!" she barked. "Get a hold of herself."

"I want her out of here." Addison said calmly.

"Addison." Dr. Bailey said. "She's not hurting you. After what she's been through, let her stay."

Meredith stood up. "No." she said. "Thank you, Dr. Bailey, but I'll just go." She hurried out of the room, and Bailey shut the door after her.

"What the hell was that?" she asked Addison.

"Miranda, I just can't do this." Addison said. She could hear how tired she sounded. "I can't have her in here. When I see her all I see is what happened. He's going to die Miranda. It will be a medical miracle if he doesn't, and it's because of her."

"She didn't ask for it. She asked him to go." Bailey said.

"But he didn't. And why? Why risk your life for someone you're just friends with? Someone who's just an intern?"

The question hung between them, and Bailey shrugged. "I wish I knew." She got up to leave. "And he's not going to die."

Addison watched her leave, and sat down next to Derek. She tried to focus on him, tried to look at his face, but all she could wonder was whether or not he would wish she was Meredith. Tears clouded her eyes again as she stared at the monitor that was showing his blood pressure.

* * *

Meredith waited for Bailey to round the corner. "Thank you." She said. "You know, for trying."

Bailey looked at her, really looked at her. Took in her lifeless eyes, her flat, emotionless tone. "You're welcome, Dr. Grey." She said, her own tone much softer than it normally was with her interns.

"Dr. Bailey," Meredith started, her eyes filling up with tears. "What are his chances? Is he going to, you know…."

"Grey, you listen to me. He is Derek Shepherd. He's full of himself and arrogant as all hell, and he'll pull through just to see the look on your face when he wakes up."

Meredith wiped her eyes and nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Bailey." She said. "I'm gonna go."

"Grey, you should eat something." Her resident called after her.

* * *

Meredith plunked a tray down and settled in with her friends. "Why aren't you with Derek?" Izzie asked immediately.

"Addison kicked me out." She said. "Freaked out, actually. And then she kicked me out." She started to try to eat the food on her tray.

"How's he doing?" Alex asked.

Meredith sighed. "The same. Vitals are fine, stable. But if he doesn't wake up in seventy two hours, it's pretty much over."

"Are you okay?" George asked. Meredith sighed. Sometimes these comforting questions bothered her. Sometimes the looks of pity on their faces were too much, but today, she didn't mind it. She was actually sort of glad they were all around.

"I'll be fine when he wakes up."

"Then what?" Alex asked. "I mean he said he loved you, right?"

Meredith nodded. "Yea, he said that."

Cristina looked around the table, reached in her pocket and laid a twenty in the center. "Twenty says he leaves McWife."

Izzie shook her head. "Double or nothing he leaves her within twelve hours of waking up."

There was a pause, and finally, George and Alex were in too. Meredith was surprised that she actually laughed.

* * *

But she wasn't laughing the next night. As she prepared to leave the hospital, it was early. Not even eleven o'clock yet, but two days were gone. If he wasn't awake by late evening tomorrow, it wasn't likely he would ever wake up. Meredith hovered by his room.

"She's in surgery." Came a voice from behind her. Dr. Webber. Meredith looked at him, and he nodded, so she figured that was good enough, and slipped into the room. She sat tentatively on the edge of the bedside chair and touched his face.

"Don't think you're getting away from this easily, Derek." She whispered. "This is so not over. I kind of like having you around. I need to have you around. Just wake up, okay?"

She stood up, leaned forward, and kissed his forehead, and left. She cried as she drove herself home.

* * *

Meredith heard the unmistakable sound of a flat line. Before she could register any of the implications of that, the code team was rushing by her. Rushing by her toward Derek's room. She followed them.

"Dr. Grey, give them room!" Bailey said, trying to keep her out. It was no use, though. Meredith was in the room as they pushed epi, charged to 150, charged to 200, charged to 300.

She was there when the code team started manually pumping his chest. She was there, through all the noise and chaos, but all she could hear was the flat line.

"Time of death, 3:42 AM."

She heard that too.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**Good God, people. Death threats?? That's really not necessary. As if heart and lung damage and a coma could kill Dr. McDreamy. Relax and stop trying to kill us via internet. **

**We have A LOT of other fics to update, but given the reaction to last chapter, we'd like to keep our lives. It's short, but at least unruly readers will spare our lives. We hope.**

**As always, we love you guys. **

Meredith jolted upright in her bed. She was gasping and shaking, but a quick glance at the clock told her it was only 2:39 in the morning. She threw the covers off and jumped out of bed, pulling on the first clothes she could find.

Seconds later she was flying down the stairs. Izzie stumbled into the hallway. "Meredith?" she called. "What are you doing?"

"Derek. I had a dream. And in my dream, he died, and now I have to see him."

"Mer, it's 2:30 in the morning. Just wait until morning when you're more, you know…" The front door slammed as she trailed off.

Meredith was flying through Seattle. 50, 60, 70. She kept her foot on the gas until the speedometer hit 90. Before she had time to tell herself that flying around corners was not a good idea, she was at the hospital.

She parked her car as close as she could, slammed the door and ran like hell. She ran up four flights of stairs and down the hall to Derek's room. She grabbed his chart from his door, before bursting in.

Mercifully, the room was empty. No doctors, no nurses, no Addison. She sank into the bedside chair and flipped open the chart. Nothing had changed in the last few hours. Nothing had gone wrong since she had been here last.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and then focused back on Derek. Suddenly, his monitor beeped, and he moved slightly. She heard something like a muffled cough, and all at once, the chief's words came rushing back to her.

"I know it's only a matter of time until he's coughing up that respirator."

That time was now. Meredith got to work, removing the breathing tube, and adjusting IV's. She watched his vitals monitor and his blood pressure stabilized.

She waited and his eyes started blinking open. "Meredith." He said, sitting up slowly.

"Oh, thank God." She said, blinking through the tears that were sliding down her cheeks. "Thank God."

He started sitting up, and she helped him. "Take it easy, Derek. Slow down."

"Thank you." She said, when he was sitting up, and she had gotten him some water.

"Meredith, what I said to you…"

She smiled sadly. "Derek, you don't have to…"

"I meant it. I love you, and I-"

A nurse walked in the room, and practically fell over when she saw Derek sitting up and speaking. Meredith smiled. "Could you page Dr. Webber?" she asked. She threw a sidelong glance at Derek.

"And page Addison Shepherd, please." She said.

She smiled at Derek and grabbed his hand. "We don't have a lot of time. God, Derek, I was so, I was terrified. I can't believe that you would do that for me, and I'm so grateful."

"I love you." He said, smiling.

"I love you too." She whispered, before she checked herself. Se closed her eyes. "God, Derek, I do love you." She said. "But there's Addison, there's… well, you're married, that's about it."

"Give me time." He said. "A day or two. A week tops."

She wanted to snap at him. Ask him then what, then what would happen? But she couldn't. So she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, and then his lips. He kissed her back, and before it could progress any further, she heard heels clacking down the hall.

She immediately settled back into the chair, but she beaming. And so was Derek.

Addison burst into the room. "Derek, you're awake." Her eyes settled on Meredith. "Dr. Grey, I need to be alone with my husband."

"Addison…"Derek said in a low tone.

"Please." Meredith whispered.

Addison shook her head. "Dr. Grey, just go, okay." Meredith sighed. Her voice was rising and Derek had just woken up from a freaking coma, and didn't need stress.

"Addison, I want her here." Derek said.

Meredith shook her head. "I'm gone." She smiled at Derek, and shivered as he gave her their look. "Derek…" she started. "Dr. Shepherd. I'm so happy that you're awake. I'll see you in a day or two."

Derek smiled. "A week tops." He said.

"A week tops." She confirmed, leaving the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**Okay, we're having a little trouble ending this in a smooth, professional manner, so to buy some time, we decided to implement a dramatic pain in the OR scene. The medical stuff is completely ridiculous, and probably impossible, but hey, work with it. **

**Thoughts are italics. **

**Enjoy. Review. As always, we love you guys. **

One day passed. Two days skipped by. The three, then four. By the fifth day, Meredith was starting to get anxious. Panic was beginning to set in. _He said a week tops. Be patient. _She found herself sitting on a stretcher next to Alex.

"Stop fidgeting." Alex instructed. "It's gonna happen."

Meredith was about to answer him when her pager went off. "911. OR three?" She said, sliding of the stretcher. "It's Bailey paging. She's not on the board."

"Answer it." Alex said. "And Meredith? With Shepherd? It's going to work out."

"Thanks Alex."

She felt a sense of trepidation as she wound through halls of Seattle Grace. Usually they comforted her, but today they were confining, like a labyrinth she couldn't navigate. She passed Derek's room, and peered in. It was empty.

Her legs flowed with adrenaline and felt like they weren't attached to her body anymore. They started pumping and didn't stop until she burst into the OR. Bailey and Burke were frantically rushing around the table and Addison was standing next to Derek, shouting at him, as he lay there.

"What the hell is going on?" Meredith shouted, causing Derek's eyes to flicker in her direction and Addison's to narrow. "What are you doing to him?"

"He's clotting in the abdomen and having spasms. We need to remove the clot."

"And you what? Forgot to put him under?"

Bailey shook her head. "Grey, get it together. We need him awake, because he has to keep his abdomen perfectly relaxed during the spasms, or he could bleed out."

Meredith looked at the thin slice in Derek's stomach. Burke cast a glance in Addison's direction then spoke to Meredith. "Grey, I need you to try to keep him calm. Addison…" Addison stepped back, humiliated, ashamed, and praying that what she knew was going to happen didn't happen.

Meredith grabbed Derek's hand and intertwined their fingers. "Derek," she said. "I'm here." He squeezed her hand so hard it hurt, but she didn't let go, or even wince.

"He's having spasms." Bailey said. "Derek, keep your abs and stomach completely relaxed."

Meredith used her free hand to touch Derek's cheek, moving his head towards her. "Derek, look at me." She said. "I know it hurts. I know it kills. Just wait it out."

"Mer…" he gasped.

She shook her head. "Shh…" She squeezed his hand encouragingly. "You're doing great. Don't say anything. I'm not going anywhere." He was gritting his teeth, sweating and breathing shallow and erratically.

Meredith gripped his hand, touched his cheek, and smoothed his hair. "It's okay, Derek." She continued to gently stroke his hair. "Just, breathe for me, all right? Steady."

Burke watched, impressed, as Derek's breathing steadied and his pulse regulated. "Derek." Burke said. "We're going to remove the clot now. It's going to hurt, but you're doing fine."

As the doctors got to work, Derek, Meredith could see was trying to stay calm, but she knew him and she knew he was in a lot of pain. "Meredith, say it." He gasped. "I need you to say it." Meredith knew what he meant, but she also knew his wife mere feet away. She looked up and Burke was staring at her. He nodded and Meredith looked Derek in the eye.

"I love you." She whispered. His tense body began to relax. Meredith returned to playing absentmindedly with his hair, but she never broke their eyes contact, and she never let go of his hand.

"I love you." He tried to tell her. It was half a whisper and half just moving lips, but it was there, in front of Addison, and it was so sincere it broke her heart a little.

"You're okay." She said. "You're going to be okay."

* * *

When it was over, Bailey and the scrub nurses wheeled Derek back to his room, and Addison trailed behind them. Meredith slumped against the wall of the scrub room, and removed the surgical covers from over her clothes. Burke came in and began to do the same.

"You did well in there, Grey. You may have saved his life."

Meredith smiled. "He saved mine."

Burke nodded. "I'm impressed. And proud of you."

"Thank you Dr. Burke." There was a long pause, and he nodded at her, ready to leave. "Preston?" she asked. "I'd like to think that I can come to you, ask you things."

He nodded. "And you can. Any friend of Cristina's is a friend of mine."

Meredith nodded. "So, he told me he loved me. And then he told me to wait for him to sort it out with Addison, but, Addison is a real person and she has feelings and it's so complicated with Derek…"

Burke sighed. "Meredith, the last few days have proved to us all that the only thing we can expect is the unexpected. When Dr. Shepherd stayed with Addison, he expected to feel like he was doing the right thing."

He moved forward and gripped Meredith's shoulder. "Rachel held up that OR at gunpoint with the best intentions. Derek stayed with Addison with the best intentions. Sometimes, our intentions and our hearts don't match up." He released her shoulder, but held her gaze.

"Robert Burns said the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. We can't control what comes at us, Dr. Grey. We can only control how we deal with it."

Meredith smiled. "You are so not Cristina."

Burke returned her grin. "Well, no I'm not. And I'm not your person. But I hope that helps."

She nodded. "It does. Thank you Dr. Burke."

* * *

Hours later, she was hovering around the second floor nurses station, waiting for someone, _anyone_, to give her something to do. She saw Bailey out of the corner of her eye. "Grey." Barked her resident.

"How is he?" she asked before Bailey could get out another word.

"Sleeping. He was still in a lot of pain, so we gave him a mild sedative." Meredith nodded.

"You did the job in there Grey. Made me proud."

"Thank you Dr. Bailey."

Her resident's tone softened and a touch of sympathy flashed across her face. "Shepherd's been looking for you. Montgomery Shepherd. Has a case."

Meredith smiled weakly, and nodded. _Be careful what you wish for.

* * *

_

"Dr. Shepherd." Meredith said, finally tracking her down. Addison tapped her feet and checked her Cartier tank watch.

"I asked Bailey for you half an hour ago Grey."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't find you."

"Right. Right now, I really don't want to have to be near you, but I need an intern, and everyone else seems to be otherwise occupied, so you'll be scrubbing in on my C-Section."

Meredith smiled weakly. "Oh. Thank you."

Addison Montgomery Shepherd had never really been great with timing. She was blunt. She was…aggressive to say the least. Still, this case of timing was not one of her finer moments. She and Meredith were literally covered in placenta when Addison looked at her.

"So he's going to ask me for a divorce isn't he?"

Meredith just stared at her. "Um, I don't know."

"Yes you do. Lying is for the weak and for cowards Grey, and I didn't think you were either one."

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know what he sees in you really. You're just a girl, Meredith. You're a good doctor, and you're cute, and I used to think you were sweet, but really, you're not beautiful. You're not well traveled or especially cultured. You wouldn't know John Galliano or Diane Von Furstenburg from a patient."

Meredith just looked down. Addison was getting frustrated. "But I guess if he leaves me for you, it will be some sort of redemption for your mother."

Meredith's head snapped up. "Seriously?" she shrieked. "Are you serious? Like Derek cares about John Galliano or Diane von whatever her name is. I really don't know if he's going to ask you for a divorce. All I know is that you have no right to talk about my mother."

Addison arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "There's the reaction I was hoping for."

Meredith stared at her. "Seriously?"

Addison's face twisted into some kind of smirk. "I don't want him to leave me for someone who doesn't care."

Before Meredith could ask her any more questions or pick her jaw up off the OR floor, Addison lifted a screaming baby out of the mother, and handed him to a scrub nurse.


	12. Chapter 12

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**So about Addison in the last chapter (this is for you, Elphie Fae, cause we know you love Addison, and we love you) we were not necessarily trying to make her Bitchy McBitch for no reason. We were trying to say that she's frustrated, and she doesn't want to give in and lay down and let Meredith walk over her to Derek. **

**The OR confrontation was her own way of telling Meredith that she understands they love each other, and she's not going to fight her. Hope that makes more sense.**

**This update took us so long to write. Every character had different wants and needs….**

**Addison: Uh, why are you making me such a bitch?!  
Us: We're trying to give you a personality. Something to do besides crying. Or having pity sex with Mark. Or Alex. Or a random, shirtless patient.  
Addison: Oh. Okay. Well, make me nice again. And give me some Prada.  
Us: Sure. Anything you say.  
Derek: (striding in) Um, can I _please_ have my lusty intern?  
Liz: Dude, patience. Don't you need to like, clear your head? Cast a rod or something?  
Meredith: Seriously? I don't have time to like, wait for you guys to get over writers block right now. If I don't get Derek back, I'll probably like, put the moves on a chick, or the chief or something. **

**You see the pressure??? (okay, yea, we're crazy.) **

**Thoughts are italics. **

**Enjoy. Review. As always, we love you guys. **

She wasn't meeting his eyes. She could feel his ice blue ones boring into her head, into her face. She sighed and bit her lip, sighing, because she felt the heat and lust radiating from his eyes. She took a deep breath, and prepared to say it.

"I can't wait any longer."

"I asked her for a divorce."

She ignored the bedside chair that she's sat in for so many days and sat right on his bed this time. "What?"

"Addison." Derek said, the upper corners of his perfect lips twitching into a small smile. "She was just here. And I asked her for a divorce. I was afraid you might not wait for me much longer."

She fought tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck. His arms snaked around her waist and his head rested just above her breasts.

There, in that moment, they were perfect. No stolen glances, no longing for each other. No more laying bed at night, wondering why, how they had lost something so perfect. Meredith Grey was finished. The search was over. The boys in the bars were no more. She had him again. She felt whole.

He nails scratched across the back of his strong neck. His ice blue eyes locked into her gray ones, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt him in her gut, and she gladly would have drowned in that feeling.

Their lips could have crashed on top of each other, urgent from the months of longing for the other's contact, but they came together slowly, as if their lips were drawn together by a force.

Her fingers slid from the back of his neck and down the shoulder of his hospital gown. Her small hands slid over the smooth skin of his shoulder, collarbone and chest. Her touch soothed him, and he responded by slowly sliding his own hands up her light blue scrub top.

His hands scorched her stomach and the breasts they came in contact with. Their lips parted for a second, but barely moved apart. "Oh, Derek…" she said, her lips moving against his. She slipped her tongue back inside his mouth, and ran a shaking hand through his wavy hair.

His arms around her, his lips on hers. It filled the deep ache that had plagued her for months. Every fiber in her being screamed that this was right; this was what she had been searching for.

"Oh sweet Jesus." George said in the door way. He dropped the chart he was holding, and backed away. "Uh, I'm sorry?" he stammered hands over his eyes, just over the threshold in the hallway.

Meredith pulled her mouth away from Derek's, looked at him, and for the first time in months, really laughed. "George!" she called.

With a priceless look of confusion and horror on his face, George stepped into the room. "What's going on?" he asked slowly.

Meredith raised her eyebrows and, with a smile on her face, turned to Derek. He smiled. "Dr. O' Malley." He said, the charm back in his voice and the life back in his eyes. "I'm getting a divorce."

"And that's why Meredith is in your bed?"

Meredith and Derek looked at each other, exaggerated pondering looks on both of their faces. "Yes." She declared, pressing her swollen lips to his cheek.

Izzie's sing song voice vibrated from the hallway. "George?" she called. "Did you get Dr. Shepherd's _Meredith_?" She clapped a hand to her forehead. "Chart!" she said. "I meant chart."

She walked into the room and stood next to George. "Only now that we're on the subject, what is this?"

Meredith grinned. "He's getting a divorce."

Cristina walked into the room, actually reading Derek's chart. She slammed into Izzie, who practically knocked over George. "Who's getting a divorce?"

She looked up at the bed, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Oh Jesus." She muttered. "What, you guys just decided to do the McNasty in his _hospital _bed. God, Mer, self control?"

Meredith blushed and sat up, so she was more leaning onto the pillow from an upright position, than lying on the bed with him. He looked up at her, and smiled, a real McDreamy smile. It was a smile that spread to his eyes, and made them sparkle. He was finally happy again.

He tucked a tendril of Meredith's hair behind her ear, and let his hand linger on the smoothness of her cheek. She smiled down at him, her eyes shining. His world was moving in slow motion as she rested one of her tiny hands on the back of his neck, and trailed them up into his hair.

"Karev, I told you to take immaculate care of him, since he is one _your_ bosses."

"Dr. Burke, I swear, I've been on top of it!" They heard Alex's voice. The two burst into the room, and stopped short, Alex running into Burke as they surveyed the crowd in Derek's room.

"Dude." Alex said. "You guys were totally macking. Don't even deny it."

"Alex, where the hell have you been?" George asked.

"Excellent question, Dr. O'Malley." Burke muttered.

"He's getting divorced." Izzie muttered, leading George and Alex out of the room. A small, knowing, secretive smile graced Burke's lips. He nodded to Derek and exited also. He was reaching to shut the door behind him, when he noticed Cristina, standing, staring at them.

"Cristina." He said gently, gesturing with his head toward the hallway.

She shook her head. "You go." She told him, smiling. "I'll be right there." She turned back to Meredith and Derek, and she was anything but smiles. "So this is it, Mer?" She asked.

Meredith lifted her hand from its current position entangled in Derek's hair. She lifted herself further off of the bed until she was just sitting on the edge. "Cristina, what are you…?"

"He hurt you, Meredith. He chose Addison over you, and then what? He kept on being McDreamy to you, because he didn't want you to get over him. And now what? All of a sudden he decides to choose you, and you're okay with that?"

"Cristina!" she said, biting her lip. Why did she always have to do that articulate the thoughts she didn't want to think herself. "It's not like that. "

"No, Meredith it's exactly like that." Cristina looked down. "Meredith, go."

"No."

"I need to talk to him, go." She said in a voice that one couldn't call harsh, but definitely was not leaving room for negotiation.

Derek nodded. "Mer, I'd like a word with Dr. Yang." He said, squeezing her hand. She nodded and left the room, hovering outside with her ear pressed against the door.

"Dr. Shepherd, I really don't like you very much." Cristina said bluntly. "You're a good surgeon. But you hurt her, in a way that nobody deserves to be hurt. And you kept hurting her. And I can't stand back and let you hurt her again."

"Dr. Yang.."

"I'm not finished. She's a good person. She's a great person. And for some reason, she loves you. But I'm just not convinced that this sudden reversal of your tormented choice to stay with your wife is real."

"Am I allowed to talk now?" he asked. Cristina nodded. Derek swallowed hard, and looked at her. "When I saw Rachel holding that gun to her head the only thing I could think about was what if this was the last time I ever saw Meredith? And what if she never knows how much I love her?"

Cristina held his gaze, her stoic face betraying no emotion, no forgiveness, no wavering. She was standing rigidly, everything about her body language demanding answers from him.

"I had never said it, you know. Until that day. But I mean it. I mean it with everything I have. I love her."

"Sometimes love isn't enough."

"Sometimes you have to believe it is."

"You chose Addison."

"I had to try. I would have never been able to make it work with Meredith of I would have left my wife."

"So the next time things get tough?"

"I love her, Dr. Yang. I close my eyes, and I see her. I breathe in, and I'm breathing her. She surrounds me all the time, everywhere I go. She is my comfort, my sanctuary, my heart. I'm in love with her. I have to believe that's enough."

Meredith opened the door, with tears in her eyes. "Do you mean that?" she asked, directing it to Derek. He nodded and smiled at her.

She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Cristina, enveloping her in a tight embrace. Cristina froze, then awkwardly moved her hand to Meredith's back.

"You really are my person." Meredith told her.

"Yeah." Cristina said. "I really am."

She disentangled herself from Meredith's fierce embrace, and nodded at Derek. "Go spoon with McDreamy or something." She said to Meredith, not bothering to lower her voice. It was her way of accepting Derek back into the fold.

She left the room, and Meredith hovered in the center of the floor, occupying the same place she had just left. "We're really going to do this aren't we?"

Derek nodded. "We really are. Scared?"

Meredith made a face. "I don't know."

"I do. Don't be. We're not doing this because I'm now choosing you, we're doing this because I didn't stop loving you."

She smiled. "I know." She started towards the door, her smile never waning.

"Where are you going?"

"There's someone I need to see." She told him, disappearing through the door. Before he could think about what her words meant, her head was back inside the door frame. "Derek? I love you." She told him. "And you should sign the papers this time."


	13. Chapter 13

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**One more chapter left. This is pretty much just humor and fluff, and the next chapter will be te MerDer date and sex culmination to end the thing. So, enjoy. Review. **

_"That's the way it goes, it'll all work out." -Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers_

Meredith walked to the nurse's station. No, walked wasn't the right word. She wasn't just walking, she was definitely striding with a purpose. She marched right up and looked at Olivia.

"Olivia, would mind paging Dr. Montgomery Shepherd for me?" she asked. The redhead raised her eyebrows, but she nodded.

"Um, sure thing, Dr. Grey."

Meredith sucked in a breath and waited. There was no room for hesitation now. Sometimes she wondered why she insisted on being so damn impulsive. She shook her head, clearing it, and waited.

She heard the clicking of heels before she actually saw Addison round the corner. "Someone paged?" she called.

Meredith nodded. "Dr. Montgomery Shepherd, can I talk to you?" she asked. Addison looked her up and down, and finally nodded her head. Meredith led her to the lounge behind the nurses station and motioned for her to sit down.

Addison obliged, and sat, perched on the edge of a chair, her long legs crossed perfectly, one creamy white limb over the other. One of her Christian Louboutin peep toe pumps dangled off her foot just so.

Talk about intimidating. "I'm sorry." Meredith blurted out. Addison looked at her strangely.

"Did you sleep with him or something?"

Meredith shook her head. "No, of course not."

"Meredith, you shouldn't be sorry. Marriages end, people change. People fall in love. You shouldn't be sorry for falling in love."

"Addison…" she didn't know what to say.

"And neither should he." The older doctor told the intern. "He didn't have a choice, Meredith. Derek's a good person. His wife begged him for one more chance. He had no choice but to give it to her."

Meredith regarded this. "I feel so guilty." She whispered, sinking down into a chair near Addison's. "I feel like I destroyed this marriage."

Addison smiled. "No, Grey, I destroyed this marriage. You just got caught up in wreckage."

Meredith stared down at her hands. "You're being so nice to me."

"Meredith, my husband loves you. In all honesty, I'll always love Derek, but it hasn't been something good for a long time. It would be easy to hate you, be angry at you. But I don't. And I'm not."

Silence hung between the two women. "I'm glad." Meredith said. "That you don't. And you're not. Cause in the OR the other day, it kind of seemed like you did, and you were."

Addison nodded. "I needed to know that it was something…" she didn't finish. Meredith nodded.

"It's love." Addison looked her in the eye, and smiled.

"Don't apologize for falling in love Dr. Grey." She said, rising and leaving the room. Meredith sat there for a long time after she left, thinking about what she said. Addison didn't hate her. If Derek could love her, and even Addison could forgive her, maybe it was time Meredith could do the same for herself.

She walked slowly back to Derek's room with these thoughts in her mind. She was surprised that Bailey hadn't tracked her down and given her something to do. In fact, the whole hospital seemed to be moving rather slowly today.

She walked into Derek's room. "I was stupid." She told him, standing in front of his hospital bed. "When you decided to stay with Addison. I tried to close myself off to the hurt and pretend that it didn't hurt like it did, but it hurt."

She sucked some air into her lungs and continued. "I am scared. I believe you when you say you love me, but I'm scared. But I'm ready to not be scared, or ashamed anymore. So hurry up, and get released."

She turned on her heel and started for the door. "Meredith?" Derek asked. "Is that everything?"

She nodded. "That's all."

"Okay."

She smiled. "Okay."

* * *

_Two Weeks Later_

"Yang, you're in the pit. There was a car crash, so you might get lucky. Stevens, you're with Burke, and he's got labs. O'Malley, the chief is on the board in ten, if you hover near him, but don't bother him, you might get in. Karev, you're with me. Grey, Shepherd requested you." Bailey said, rolling her eyes.

Meredith grinned and nodded. Bailey put her hands on her hips. Apparently, he thinks you're going to be a fantastic neurologist. You tell him that the first time I catch him whispering sweet nothings in your ear when he's requested you, I'm going to pay Karev to shave his head while he's sleeping." She said this extra loudly, for Derek's benefit, because he had just strolled to the nearby coffee machine with Burke and his soon to be ex wife.

"Threatening me, Dr. Bailey?"

"I sure as hell am." She said. "Take Grey, and get out of here. Dr. Montgomery, you need an intern?"

Addison shook her head. "I've got Grey. Derek's working on one of my cases." Cristina and Izzie raised their eyebrows at each other and tried to conceal laughter. Bailey looked at her interns.

"I'm confused as to why you're all still standing around here." She said bluntly. They scattered in different directions, Meredith following Derek towards Addison.

"You know," she said. "You might look good with no hair."

Addison caught Meredith's eye and snorted with suppressed laughter. Meredith smiled winningly at Derek, who blinked between the two of them. Finally he gave up, and let them laugh. As the two women collapsed into peals of laughter at his confusion, he couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Addison left the room to talk to the girls parents about the procedure. She thought it might be torturous, her, Meredith and Derek all on the same case. But it wasn't. She might have been enjoying herself, really. Not that she'd ever admit that to anyone.

Derek waited until Addison left the room. He looked at Meredith. "So we were establishing rules." He said.

She looked up. "What?"

"When we left off, there were rules being established."

She smiled, catching on. "Your point, Dr. Shepherd?"

"Let me take you out. Dinner. Multiple sets of cutlery, cloth napkins, a bottle or two of twenty year old wine."

She smirked. "I like the sound of that. Except the cutlery."

He shook his head. "Oh, don't worry, I'll tell you which one to use first." She wrinkled her nose at him. "Tonight?" he asked.

She nodded. "Tonight. Derek? You know what we haven't done in a while?" she asked him, one eyelid sliding down into the sexiest wink he'd ever seen.

"Will I find out tonight?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It better be a really good dinner."

**Hit the review button. Also, in addition to our myriad of other stories, we;ve recently posted our new holdiay fic, 'The Spirit Of The Season'. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**So, we havent been getting a lot of feedback lately, and we realized our last few updates for all of our fics have SUCKED. so we're trying hard to improve all writing. Here, we went with fluff. There's one more chapter, maybe two for this guy. Also, all of our stuff should be updated this week. **

**REVIEW. **

_"We're feeling wide open and waiting for something warm and tender." -Matchbox Twenty_

Meredith was pleading. "Burke, this is really important." And it was. Really important, that was. A girl did not go on a second first date with her McDreamy wearing any old garment.

"Dr. Grey…" Burke said warningly.

"Preston, I'm begging you. Cristina is from Beverly Hills. She knows things about dresses and hemlines and cuts. She has dresses that aren't Trashy McWhore dresses. And I _need_ one. All you have to do is page her."

"Why don't you page her, Meredith?" Burke asked, trying to sound exasperated, but not quite able to speak without smirking at her.

Meredith sighed and gave Burke a look. "You know she won't come unless she thinks she's getting a surgery."

Burke deliberated for a few more seconds, then rolled his eyes and pulled out his pager. Meredith refrained from throwing her arms around him in a fit of gratitude. "Thank you!" she said. Minutes later, Cristina flew around the corner.

"Is someone dying?" she asked.

Meredith looked at her. "Remember how I was your person?"

"No one's dying." Cristina said shortly.

Meredith nodded. "No. But you have the most gorgeous floaty, emeraldy green dress thingy, and I need to borrow it."

Cristina stared at her, and then looked at Burke. "Seriously?"

Meredith nodded. "Come, on Cristina, it's my second first date with Derek!"

She rolled her large brown eyes. "Jesus, Mer, we know. We've heard nothing else for _hours_." Burke smiled at the bluntness of his girlfriend, even with her best friend.

"I will get Derek to let you in on something awesome, if you just go get it for me?" Meredith pleaded.

"You want me to leave the hospital to get you a _dress_?"

"The dress." Meredith corrected. "The only dress I can wear on the McDate. I should also point out I need you to cover for me when I leave half an hour early to frantically get ready for said McDate."

Cristina pursed her lips. "I want a surgery with McDreamy, and if She Shepherd ever gets anything besides a C- Section, I want you to get me in on that too. Since you two have this weird, giggly, bay surgery alliance now. And you have to do my pre rounds tomorrow."

Meredith nodded. "Deal."

Cristina waltzed away, muttering about how annoyed she was. Burke looked at Meredith, impressed. "Dr. Grey, one of these days, you're going to have to teach me how to do that."

* * *

Meredith was on cloud nine. Or ten, or something. She actually let Alex take a surgery instead of her, because she decided to leave an hour early, in hopes of showering, wearing makeup to compliment the floaty emerald dress and meet Derek back at the hospital on time.

And she had almost made it to the lobby when. "Dr. Grey." She turned around to see none other than Addison watching her sneak towards the doors. "And where are you going?"

"Surgery." Meredith blurted out before she could tell herself how ludicrous that was. Addison's mouth twitched until she finally just laughed at her.

"Seriously?" she asked, still smirking. "Just tell me."

"Sneaking home."

Addison eyes the green fabric sticking out of her bag. "Got a date?" she joked. Meredith blushed and looked down at the floor. "Oh. Well that was awkward." Addison said.

She cleared her throat, and Meredith shrugged apologetically. Addison shook her head. "I'm your attending, Dr. Grey. And I think you should go get ready. In fact, I'm ordering it."

Meredith bit her lip to keep her jaw from dropping. "Seriously?"

A smile twitched across Addison's lips. "Seriously, Dr. Grey. And Meredith? Curls."

"Huh?"

"Your hair? Try curls."

"Right."

* * *

Bailey walked up and down her lined up interns, wondering who would be the first to crack. Normally, she'd peg O'Malley, but he had that loyalty to Grey. If she threatened them with surgery, she could easily crack Cristina.

"So." She said. "I have been all over this hospital. I have paged her a million times." Bailey said. "She's not here. And anyone who tries again, in vain, to tell me that she is here? I'll assume you're calling me stupid. And anyone who calls their resident stupid will not see the inside of the OR for a long time."

She shot a pointed look at Cristina. "So tell me, where is Dr. Grey?"

"There's a large possibility she may have gone home."

"On who's orders?"

"Mine." The interns and Bailey looked over to see Addison, leaning against the counter, a Diane Von Furstenburg wrap dress under her lab coat. "Her hair was in tragic need of curling. So I sent her home."

Bailey raised her eyebrows at Addison, and her look of bewilderment was mirrored on the faces of all of Meredith's friends. "Dr. Shepherd," Bailey asked her, "have you completely lost your mind?"

Addison shrugged. "Probably." She hesitated. Was she ready to let go of the last remaining evidence of her life with Derek? "Montgomery." She blurted. Apparently, she was. "Dr. Montgomery."

The vibration of her cell phone that was stashed in the pocket of her white lab coat broke the awkward silence.

"Addison Montgomery." She answered in a clipped business like tone. She didn't recognize the number.

"It's Meredith." Came the panicked voice from the other side of the airwaves.

"Dr. Grey. What can I do for you?"

"This curling is impossible." Addison sighed, smiled at the irony of it all and turned her back to the stunned looking doctors before her, and instructed her soon to be ex husband's girlfriend how to get ready for their second first date.

* * *

Derek leaned against the wall of the lobby. He was dressed in these obscenely pants that he hated because they weren't denim, and a dress shirt, and a tie. Gone was the Derek Shepherd uniform of jeans, and a button down shirt hanging out from under his sweater.

He leaned against the wall, going through a few things on his phone. He was going on a date with Meredith tonight. The second first date. They were starting over. Second chances were a beautiful thing.

He made a note to call the divorce lawyer in the morning, and a mental note to be as nice to Addison as he knew how to be. He shook his head to clear it, and looked at his watch. A flash of hair caught his eye, and as he raised his head, his breath caught in his throat.

There, walking through the sliding, automatic lobby doors, was Meredith, _his_ Meredith, in this form fitting, slinky emerald thing, with these perfect little bronze shoes. Her hair was sort of curly, and it was spilling over her shoulders. She smiled tentatively, and walked over to him.

She raised her lips to his cheek and kissed him quickly. "Hi." She said. "You clean up nicely."

"Meredith." He said, taking her hand, and spinning her around. "You look amazing."

She smiled, a real smile. "Thanks." She intertwined their fingers and started walking. "So, where are you taking me Dr. Shepherd?"

"Mexico."

She giggled. "You think I'm kidding." He said, indignantly. "Meredith, if I wanted to, I could pull it off."

She nodded, and played along with him. "Of course you could, Derek."

Half an hour, she was seated across from him at a table over looking the water. "Start with the fork furthest away from you." He teased her.

"Hey, just because I never wined and dined in New York City…"

"I'm sure Boston was very classy."

It was silent as they sipped wine, and Meredith poked at her salad with what she hoped was the appropriate fork.

"Rules." Derek said. "We were establishing rules."

"I think you taking bullets for me changes the formality of the rule establishing game. But if there are any more wives, or ex wives, I want to know now."

He shook his head. "There are a few illegitimate children from my last dirty mistress, but I think you'll find them quite charming."

She shot him a look. "Too soon for dirty mistress jokes. Got it." He nodded. "Meredith, I want you to make the rules. I like it when you're bossy. If you're bossy, it's harder for me to screw this up."

She reached across the table and took his hand. "I'm not going to let you screw it up this time."


	15. Chapter 15

**Title: The Best Laid Plans**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for violence, language, maybe sex**

**Disclaimer: Obviously the show does not belong to two college girls.**

**Summary: An OR gets taken hostage by a love struck woman whose fiancé is dying. Meredith gets caught in the cross fire and no one is safe. But, it's all in the name of love, right?**

**Author's Note: Yea, it's a cliché, but we're obsessed and back to writing game, so feed our egos and review. Updates have been lax since we both began college, but we couldn't stay away for long. Please review. It's our heroin. **

**Yes, this tale of melodrama and unrealistic situations has finally come to an end. We thank you all for your reviews, including, but certainly not limited to: eternityisyours, tizzy13, mcobsessed, natzbadfairy, Into.The.Fire, Elphie Fae (where are you girl?), light-stick and Morgen86. And everyone else. We love you all. **

**We're still going on 'Forever And A Day', 'One Hell Of A Racket', 'Keeping The Faith' and 'A Tale Of Two Cities'. Also, the sequel to Forever And A Day is in the works, to be called Four McWeddings and A Funeral, and the currently untitled sequel to Racket is also forthcoming. **

**Thanks everyone. **

"_Then you rise, and shine forever, don't go away,  
I hope tomorrow is like today."  
-Guster_

When Derek parked outside Meredith's house and strolled casually up to her door, like he did every day, he was surprised to see her waiting on the porch, arms crossed.

"Look at my Jeep." She commanded. Derek looked at her Jeep, like he was told, a bemused smirk on his face the whole time.

"See that stuff that's oh, I don't know, covering it?" She asked.

"That I do." He said, turning back to Meredith. She was wearing cotton shorts and a black bikini top and flip flops, her hair spilling over her shoulders. "I also see that stuff that's _not_ covering you."

He sauntered up to her, ready to whisk her away to the bedroom. She put her hand up to stop him. "Shirt. Off, now."

"Right here?" he asked, smirking at her. "On the patio? Mer, that's hardly legal."

She smiled, shaking her head, and held up a bucket and a sponge. "The mud covering my Jeep? It came from your stupid trailer that has no stupid driveway. We're washing the car, Derek."

"Oh are we? You know that wastes a lot of water. It's very bad for the environment. Global warming and all that. We probably don't want to risk being the ones who melt the ice caps."

Meredith rolled her eyes, jumped off the porch and turned on the hose. "Start scrubbing, Dr. Shepherd."

"You know, I can think of a number of things we could do without risking the integrity of the environment or increasing the hole in the ozone layer."

Meredith sprayed him with the hose. "Nice try, Derek." She said, filling a bucket of water. Derek picked it up and threw it at her. She shrieked and jumped and ran after him with the hose.

Before long, they were in the bedroom anyway, and the car was still dirty.

* * *

Later that night at Joe's, at a table surrounded by interns, Derek had his arm around Meredith. 

"You know your car is still a mess." Izzie commented, sipping her drink.

Meredith nodded and looked at her seriously. "It's really bad for then environment to wash a car. Global warming and all that."

Derek nodded enthusiastically. "Especially in Seattle. It's bound to rain tomorrow or the next day." He said, struggling to keep a straight face.

He snuck a glance at Meredith and met her eye, and just like that, they both burst out laughing.

Cristina wrinkled her nose. "I think I hear Burke calling me." She said, getting up.

"Burke's in surgery." Derek said through his laughter.

"Yea, I know." Cristina said, backing away, a look of disgust on her face. George rolled his eyes and went over to the dartboard, and Alex followed, pulling Izzie with him.

Meredith shrugged and kissed Derek on the mouth. "Strange friends you've got." He told her. "But to compensate you do have a particularly dashing boyfriend."

"Oh," Meredith said, gushing playfully. "How did I get so lucky?"

Derek laughed. "Oh, Meredith. The stars were aligned that night, so many months ago."

She rolled her eyes. "You're so full of it." She said, smacking him lightly on the arm. He pulled her into a dramatic kiss, and she when she finally came up for air, she was giggling.

"This is why my friends always leave the table." She said. "Our friends." She corrected.

He smiled, and she laughed at the expression on his face. The sound of her laughter ringing across the bar caught the attention of a red head at a distant table, sharing a drink with a very handsome Seattle lawyer.

Addison locked eyes with Meredith, raised her drink and smiled. Meredith returned the gesture, and sighed contently.

Life had never really worked out for Meredith Grey. It always jerked her around, played with emotions, and pulled her stability out from under her at the last minute. But, as she looked around the Emerald City Bar, she felt that maybe that was no longer true.

She was civil, even friendly with Addison. She had a great job. She had a bartender who loved her, and who never ran out of tequila.

She had three amazing friends. Four. Alex counted these days. And Derek. She had the love of her life in a floppy haired, dreamy brain surgeon.

She smiled at him, took his hand and pulled him out of his seat. "Let's go home." She whispered in his ear.

As she left the bar, hand in hand with Derek Shepherd, a though occurred to her. Life had come down on the side of the dirty mistress.


End file.
